The Guardian
by Saiyan Jedi
Summary: The gang is teleported to another dimension with an odd girl and her ancient hikari. The "Alternate ending" is actually the ending I prefer.
1. the story

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! I think I'll ask the Pharaoh to give it to me. In case I mention anything out side of Yu-Gi-Oh! I don't own anything. * Insert hysterical crying noises *

Yami: it's all right; here I'll give you Yu-Gi-Oh! (pats Saiyan Jedi on the back consolingly)

Saiyan Jedi: (leaps up with dry eyes) Really?

Yami: -__-; No.

Warning: Along with my usual several original characters I have original Duel Monsters! Yeah!J

Foreword: As always in my fics, * this means authors note* and /this means a character thought./ (This is new. This means the mind link between Yami and Yugi or one of the other characters is open and they are using it to speak.) Sometimes I think I have more symbols than a baseball coach. Oh, and don't think I'm going to let you forget my warped sense of humorJ!

Yami turned, positive that someone was following him. He was in the corridors of an Egyptian pyramid * obviously five thousand years ago * he was a child * hard to think of him as a chibi, isn't it * and would soon be Pharaoh, or so everyone told him. "Sola, is that you?" he asked. His sister was an expert at hiding. Suddenly an arrow whisked out from the darkness of the pyramid and someone in a black cloak expertly jumped out from in front of him to catch the arrow in his or her arm. The person leaped into the darkness and came back with an unconscious fully grown man. Yami now saw that his rescuer was also a child.

"Your attacker, my prince." The person dropped the man at Yami's feet and bowed low. Yami grinned slightly and pulled his sister to her feet.

"You're my sister! None of that 'my prince' stuff, okay?" he looked passed the hood of the cloak into his twin sister's eyes.

She nodded and muttered, "As you wish."

"I told you …" Yami trailed off when he saw Sola's shoulders shaking. "Are you alright?" Yami asked as Sola burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"Do you really think I would call you 'my prince', little bro?" she asked.

"We're twins and you know it!" Yami told her indignantly.

"You were twenty minutes later than me, and you know it, little bro!" she reminded him. Suddenly an adult walked into their line of sight to see them doubled over laughing.

"Prince, Sola!" the adult reprimanded, "My Prince, you shouldn't be lowering yourself so! And Sola, you should be on your guard at all times, what if something were to happen to your brother!" the adult then saw the unconscious attacker. "What happened?" he demanded, then saw the arrow in Sola's arm, "Sola, you're wounded! Protecting your brother? If you were, good job doing your duties! Now straighten up and continue them!"

Sola glanced at Yami and whispered, "Run on three?" Yami nodded as the adult continued to scold them. Sola quietly counted, "One … two … three!" she half yelled the word "three" and the two of them set off running in the opposite direction of the adult. The adult tried to follow, but in the ridiculous way he dressed, he soon fell behind.

Yami and Sola stopped near a tomb to catch their breath and Yami, for the first time, noticed the arrow in Sola's arm. "You're hurt! Let me get that for you…" Yami reached for the arrow and Sola brushed his hand away. She ripped off the bottom of her cloak and handed it to Yami. "You can bandage it if you really want to help." She grabbed the arrow and forcefully yanked it out of her arm. Yami quickly bandaged her outstretched arm as she looked around. She read the hieroglyphics in a glance and looked at a large stone door. When Yami finished she told him, "according to the writings, that's the tomb of the first Pharaoh."

Yami grinned, "Want to explore it?" Sola tossed a rock near the door and a large boulder on a chain smashed it and recoiled.

"No." she answered with a wry grin.

"How'd you know that there'd be a trap?" Yami asked.

"First, I was taught to read between the lines near tombs, second only the poorest Pharaohs didn't have traps, third, I didn't and I was only doing my job, and fourth, I'm on a committee that's planning Father's tomb's protections and he doesn't even have half the glory or gold of the first one - yet." She shrugged.

Yami nodded after thinking that through and informed his sister, "I'll be the greatest Pharaoh ever! Other than Father of course." They heard a chuckling coming from a dark area near them and they both straightened and bowed, murmuring, "Father." They straightened as the Pharaoh came out into the torchlight. Sola nodded into the darkness behind her father and greeted, "Uncle."

"Niece." Came the greeting from her uncle, who was younger than his brother, her father.

"Yami, you have such ambition. How do you plan to become the greatest Pharaoh?" the current Pharaoh asked.

"I … I plan to harness the power of the shadow realm." The young prince told his father embarrassedly.

"How?" the children's uncle asked.

"I'm … not to … uh … sure yet, but I will." Yami assured them nervously.

"Do you plan to help, daughter?" their father asked.

"He will be the Pharaoh. It is not my place to go against a Pharaoh's word, just my place to make sure he does not kill himself doing it." She told him a touch arrogantly, assuring her brother.

"Interesting. Tell me, girl, how do you feel about your mother, I, and your uncle ignoring the fact that you were born first?" her father asked.

"It is not my place to question the motives of the Pharaoh." She reminded him.

"If it were your place. Then what?"

"I am not destined to rule. I have not the strength. My brother does. What ever his destiny is, it is mine only to assist." She told all three of them.

"And yet he is nervous talking to your father, you are not." Her uncle told her.

"I do not question my sister's loyalty to me! You two shouldn't either!" Yami snapped.

"We do not question her loyalty, only her strength, courage, and motives." The Pharaoh reprimanded softly.

"My destiny is to make sure he does not get killed before he can accomplish his. That is my motive. I am the only one in all of Africa who dares talk back to the two of you; that is my strength and part of my courage. And the rest of my courage is drawn from my brother, whom I love and will keep alive at all costs." Sola snapped.

The Pharaoh smiled at his children and suddenly had a vision of them locked in a five thousand year struggle against evil. They worked together and Sola stayed loyal to her brother the entire time.

Many years later the Pharaoh died, leaving Yami Pharaoh while he was barely into adulthood. When Yami created the seven Millennium Items to use to control the power of the shadow realm, Sola was there – watching and learning. Yami practically collapsed from exhaustion and Sola made sure he was in bed and comfortable before going off and forging her own Millennium Item.

Five Thousand Years Later

/So, your memory is long gone and you reside in the body of a child. Interesting./ Sola pursed her lips at her thought as she watched Yugi, the "child" in whom Yami had taken up residence through the Millennium Puzzle. Of course Yugi was still in his body, but so was Yami. It was quite like the position that Sola had with a girl named Naid. Naid looked a lot like Yugi when Sola thought about it. One of the differences between her situation and her brother's was that Naid could use the Millennium Armlet, the Item that Sola had forged five thousand years prior, much better than Sola. Sola had forged it knowing that she couldn't handle it, but that someday someone would be able to. That someone seemed to be Naid.

(Would you just let me open a link to them?) Naid asked.

(No! the Pharaoh doesn't have his memory. In his haste and protectiveness for young Yugi, he'd probably try to banish us to the shadow realm before we could explain.) Sola grinned.

(Yugi would protect us! I know he would, or at least try to.) Naid protested.

(NO! I know my brother! I can gauge his reactions better than you.)

(And I can gauge Yugi's! He protected Shadi!)

(Naid, I'm warning you…)

(What would you do, banish me from my body? Harm my body? You live in this skin as much as I do anymore, you know.)

(Point well noted, little warrior.)

(Good, oh old one.) In spite of herself, Sola chuckled aloud at Naid's remark. They were always were teasing each other over something, usually the fact that Sola had lived over five thousand years and that Naid was a better warrior than Sola.

(Perhaps after we introduce ourselves … hm. What's this?) Sola stared at the game shop. Joey, Tea, Tristan, Mai, Ryou, - although Sola couldn't tell if he was in his Yami form or not - and the Kaiba brothers were at the door, Seto shooting Joey glares that seemed that they could kill. Suddenly, for some reason, Duke arrived, all of them waiting impatiently for Yugi to open the door. Yugi opened it and started to say something.

(Naid, can you enhance our hearing?) Sola asked.

(Consider it done.) Naid told Sola. Sometimes it seemed that Naid could do things that Sola had never intended the Millennium Armlet to do, either that or time had corroded Sola's memory more than she knew.

"… And thanks for coming." She heard Yugi finish. She swore in Ancient Egyptian under her breath and followed the group into the game shop. Naid caused the Millennium Armlet to cloak them so that no one would see them and Sola was glad of Naid's sharp instincts for going on the thousandth time. She followed the group up the stairs and into Yugi's very crowded bedroom. Everyone barely fitted and Sola had to sit on the desk so that she wouldn't bump anyone. She watched intently as Yugi transformed to Yami and began, "The reason I have asked you here is because I have something to explain." Thus began the tedious task of explaining about himself, the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. After he had finished both Tea and Ryou nodded solemnly, as if they had expected this.

"But why tell us?" Joey asked, "And why now, not sooner or later?" Yami bit his lip nervously and transformed back into Yugi – something everyone noticed seeing as they had been told the slight changes.

"Because Yami feels that it's too dangerous for you not to know and that the two of us need separate bodies, and fast." Yugi explained.

"Why?" Ryou asked.

"One, Marik's still after him and he doesn't want to see me hurt and two, he thinks he's caught some ancient sickness that could seriously harm me." Yugi explained half shyly. Sola started and fell off the desk, knocking Yugi's lamp and clock off of it.

(Smooth move.) Naid commented, trying to figure out how to avoid too much confrontation. Sola reached out to Yami slightly and felt the sickness in him. He needn't worry; it only affected "yamis", but Sola did worry, she couldn't figure out if she or Naid were the yami of them.

 "Who's there?" Seto asked, ticked that he hadn't known that anyone was in the room.

(Do we tell them we're here?) Naid asked.

(Yes. Don't try to take over: I have better people skills.) Sola told her and cleared her throat as the cloak making the others not see her dropped./Good timing/ she thought to herself and told the others, "Hello, my name is Sola. I'm sorry for spying on you, but it's my job to protect two of your number. I'm not at liberty to say who, although." Everyone gaped at her until Yami took over his and Yugi's body and asked, "Do I know you?"

"Think very far back, my Pharaoh." She added a slight sarcastic hint to "Pharaoh" and hoped he noticed. He did and stared at her a very long time.

"Sola?" he finally asked.

"The one and only." She answered with a grin. He started towards her and then stopped.

"That sickness will not harm young Yugi. I don't think it would even harm me. It only works on those referred to as 'yamis', the darker side of a person. Very few actually have them. Those who have them are Yugi, Ryou and either I or the young girl whose body I am in." Sola informed her brother. He stared at her a second before laughing.

When he calmed down he told her, "I never thought you'd be teaching me things related to the seven Items."

"Eight, actually." She corrected him.

"I … wow I can't believe so much of my memory is back after only seeing you … I only made seven."

"I made one. I'm wearing it now, although I do not like the looks that the yami form of Ryou is giving me." Sola gestured and Bakura looked at her, surprised.

"Oh, I know about you alright, tomb robber. You even tried robbing my brother's tomb. How dare you!" Sola snapped and Bakura glared at her before asking, "Would you like to play a little game with me in the shadow realm, girl?"

"Sola would not, but I would." She replied. Her hair was spikier, her eyes were now deep crimson – Sola's had been a light lavender –, and she was a little taller. Her voice was deeper and both Bakura and Yami knew that this young teen was the yami, not Sola.

"Okay, we're getting very confused." Joey informed Naid, Yami, and Bakura. Naid and Yami glanced at him and the others, who all had very stupid, disturbed, confused looks on their faces.

Bakura growled, waved his hand, and snickered. Suddenly they were all in the shadow realm. Naid and Sola were in separate bodies, as well as Yami and Yugi and Bakura and Ryou, who looked very helpless. The others had the same stupid looks on their faces, even Seto and Duke, except intensified.

Bakura narrowed his eyes at Yami and Naid. He knew that he was no match for the two of them together, but if he used the Eye … well, that was another matter altogether. He pulled the Eye out of his pocket and sent energy through the two Items to Yami and Naid. They matched with energy coming out of their own Items, threatening to defeat Bakura, until Marik showed. He added his own energy from the Rod to that coming out of the Eye and Ring and that energy threatened to envelope Naid and Yami until Sola added her own energy. It wasn't much, but it helped. It practically flew towards Marik and Bakura when Marik changed his angle. The energy shot of to one side and hit Yugi square in the chest, sending him flying. Yami yelled in surprise and ran to help Yugi. Naid's eyes burned with hatred and the energy she let out in rage yanked them forcefully out of the shadow realm and into the real world. She ignored the sinking feeling in her gut and ran over to help Yugi, along with everyone but Seto, Marik, and Bakura – the latter two having run off in the opposite direction.

After a few minutes Seto brought them all back to reality, asking, "Where are we?"

Naid looked up and glanced around. She swallowed hard and asked, "Yami, Sola, do either of you know where we are?" The two five thousand year old twins looked up and around. The sky was an inky, foul-seeming black with no trace of clouds or any type of light. The only light came from lampposts along the street and the light of houses and buildings. The buildings looked like those Ancient Egyptians would have used.

"I don't know." Yami confessed, shaking his head.

"Neither do I." Sola informed her yami. * this has a serious possibility of getting very confusing, at least for me *

"I might!" Joey piped up. Everyone looked at him and he explained, "This could be another timeline! One where the bad guys won in Yami's time." Everyone continued to stare at him. "I read a lot of manga, okay?" he put his hands up in self-defense.

"He may have something going here. I mean, look around! If the evil sorcerer had won, this is what it'd look like." Sola pointed out.

"It is a possibility…" Yami trailed off, looking at Yugi with concern on his face. Yugi was unconscious and had a very pale complexion, his breathing was abnormally shallow and he had no mark from the energy that had hit him. That bothered Yami and Naid the worst. They both knew that something like that should have at least left a mark.

Naid walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "He will be fine. He's tougher than most." She assured the concerned Pharaoh.

"It's just … you wouldn't understand." Yami shook his head.

"Let me guess, you think that this is all your fault, that you should have looked out for him better, and that you feel guilty because of that?" Naid guessed.

"How'd you know?" Yami asked.

"Let's just say you're not the only one who feels like that." Naid's fierce expression softened, then she had a mischievous gleam in her eye, "Hey, we were never really introduced. I know who you are, but you don't know me. I'm called Naid." Yami stared at her for the sudden outburst and shook his head in mock despair.

(Naid, we need to get both Yugi and Yami to a hospital or something! Yami's got that weird yami sickness and Yugi's wounded…) Sola trailed off worriedly.

"Let's see if we can find a doctor or hospital or something." Naid suggested. She looked at the males and selected one. "Joey, carry Yugi. He's not waking up anytime soon and the faster we get to a hospital, the better."

They started wandering round and found nothing after many hours. They did however find a nice quiet park to rest in. They sat down exhausted and Sola asked Yami, "Are you alright?" he was getting a little pale and was too out of breath for Sola's comfort.

"I'm fine, but your yami may not be. She looks a little under the weather." Yami gestured to Naid, who was sound asleep under a tree, her normally tan skin almost as pale as Yami's. Naid stirred and rolled onto her side, muttering in her sleep.

"She does almost look peaceful, though." Sola muttered. Suddenly Seto jumped up.

"What?" Yami asked.

"I thought I felt a drop of water. There's not a cloud in the sky, though." Seto told Yami uneasily.

"I just felt one too." Mai informed them and within no time it was pouring down rain. Naid sat up and rubbed her eyes. She looked at the sky and muttered, "This place gives me the creeps." Lightning lit up the sky and Naid sat bolt upright.

"What's wrong?" Duke asked.

"I saw something. It was huge and it's getting very close, very fast. Watch next time there's lightning." As if on cue, more lightning lit up the sky and they spotted a shape headed towards them, or rather, "Oh no! It's headed for Yugi!" as Yami pointed out. He struggled to stand – the strange illness left him weak – but Naid was already standing over Yugi.

The thing stopped a few meters away from her and as lighting lit up the sky Naid half yelled, "Yami! It's the Dark Magician!" the Dark Magician stared at her and lifted his stave. Suddenly Yugi woke to see the disturbing scene, the Dark Magician ready to blast Naid into pieces.

"No! Don't!" Yugi said weakly to the Dark Magician, who lowered his wand thing and stared wonderingly at Yugi. "She's a friend!" Yugi told the Dark Magician who nodded and left.

"That was weird!" Naid exclaimed as she fell back onto the grass near Yugi.

"Yugi, Naid, are you two alright?" Yami asked, arriving near them.

"Yeah. The Dark Magician obeyed Yugi like it was a duel." Naid pursed her lips in thought.

"I'm fine. Just a little tired." Yugi told Yami, then glanced back and forth between the two yamis. "Are you two okay?" he asked as Yami sat near Naid and Yugi.

"No they are not, but neither will admit it." Sola informed Yugi with a glance at the two yamis.

"We're fine!" they both protested at once. Both Yugi and Sola laughed. Naid looked up at the rain and frowned in thought. Finally she stood and said to the others, "We need to find shelter from this rain. With both Yami and Yugi as weak as they are, either could easily catch a bad cold or something."

"What about you?" Ryou asked softly.

"I'll be fine." She snapped at him. She helped Yami and Yugi stand before leading the way to find shelter. Both Naid and Sola gave Yami and Yugi their coats, insisting that they weren't cold.

"You two really should be wearing these." Yami told his sister a few minutes later, after seeing Naid shiver.

"Like I said five thousand years ago, it's my destiny to make sure you live to accomplish yours. Now I think the same is true with the two young ones." Sola gestured to Yugi and Naid, who were walking together. Naid was shivering and trying hard not to show it and Yugi didn't notice.

Finally, still in the park, the group found a structure that they could use for shelter. It had a triangular shape, like a pyramid, and had a sign in hieroglyphs on it.

"Park shelter, number three." Yami read aloud for everyone who didn't read hieroglyphs, which was everyone but himself Sola and Naid - Sola had taught her when she was a lot younger. Yami looked at Sola, who shrugged. Everyone stood there in indecision until Mokuba sneezed. Seto ushered his brother into the shelter and Yami followed, pushing Naid, Sola, and Yugi in before him.

Inside there were several benches and tables and a fireplace, mainly what you'd expect from a park shelter. Mai pushed her way in past the first few and announced, "Tea, Naid, Sola and I will get to sleep on the tables. That leaves one left and then the benches. Someone will have to sleep on the floor."

"I will. Someone can take my place on the table." Naid volunteered. Then, knowing the others, she added, "I think that Mokuba and Yugi should be the two boys who get a table. Both of them are sick." Both Seto and Yami nodded at this decision and within a few minutes everyone was where they would sleep. Naid was on the floor between Sola and Yugi's tables and on the bench near her was Yami, making sure he was near Yugi.

"You really care for Yugi, don't you Yami?" Naid asked after everyone else was asleep. Yami seemed a little startled by the question. Naid saw his confused expression and added, "You seem to treat him like a … baby brother or something. Almost the same way Sola treats you."

"And the way Kaiba treats Mokuba?" Yami suggested with a grin. Naid nodded.

After a few more minutes Yami told her gently, "You really should try to get some sleep." She nodded, but said nothing. In a few minutes she'd fallen asleep and Yami took of the coat that was serving him as a blanket and laid it gently on Naid. He went back to his bench and fell asleep listening to the sound of rain.

Everyone was awakened an hour before dawn to the sound of someone loudly retching. They all sat up and tried to figure out who was missing when Naid came back into the shelter, wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand.

"Are you okay, kid?" Mai asked. Naid nodded vaguely and sat down next to Sola on the bench Yami had slept on. Sola reached over and put her hand on her yami's forehead. She held it there for a second and then took it off, informing the others, "She's burning with fever."

"I'm fine." Naid snapped. She looked around and asked, "Mokuba, Yugi, Yami are you three okay?" They nodded and Sola shook her head at Naid's stubbornness.

"You need some rest. On something other than a cold concrete floor." Ryou informed her.

Naid shook her head. "We need to find something to eat."

"Why, are you hungry?" Joey asked.

"No, but you guys will be soon." Naid pointed out as someone's stomach growled loudly. Everyone looked around and Yami blushed.

"Yami? Was that you?" Yugi asked slightly embarrassed. Yami nodded. Naid looked at the two of them with a grin and noticed something.

"Hey, why do each of you have a Millennium Puzzle?" she asked.

"Huh?" Yami looked down at himself, then at Yugi. They each had a Puzzle.

"Does each of you have your Item?" Yugi asked Sola and Naid. They nodded and then glanced at each other in slight surprise.

Sola snapped her fingers and looked at Ryou. "I remember that that filthy tomb robber had his Ring and so does Ryou. Maybe when Naid yanked us out of the shadow realm it not only kept us separate, but also let each of us have our Items, like we appear in our soul rooms!" Yami thought a second and nodded his agreement.

"It makes sense." Yugi agreed.

"Not to us it don't!" Joey exclaimed. Naid glanced at him. He and the others with no Item were looking at Yugi, Yami, Sola, Naid, and Ryou like they were insane.

"Wait! Ryou, your yami had a Millennium Eye, do you have one?" Naid suddenly asked. Ryou dug around in his pockets and shook his head.

"Why not though?" Yugi asked.

Ryou shrugged and Sola thought aloud, "Maybe it's because only Bakura was in the fight with Pegasus for it. And the only reason that we have two copies of our Items is because we are the original owners of a body and the spirit of the Item."

"Makes sense" Yugi agreed and both Naid and Yami nodded. After a few minutes Naid reminded them, "We were going to go look for some food."

Several hours later they were wandering around the buildings in groups of two with no success.

"Why aren't there any people anywhere?" Yugi wondered aloud as his stomach growled.

"I've noticed, everything looks weather worn, enough that no one's been using anything for a while." Naid gestured to some Ancient Egyptian script on a building. It was worn almost smooth. "If people still lived around here, they wouldn't let the script get so worn without replacing it." Suddenly they heard a crash come from in one of the buildings. They glanced at each other and raced inside the building.

Inside they found fresh footprints in the thick dust and followed them. They finally got to a room with a small child in Ancient Egyptian clothing huddled in one corner with a man-eater bug facing her.

Yugi picked up a rock and threw it at the insect. It turned and menacingly clashed its claws together at them.

"That was not the best idea, Yugi." Naid told her friend in a matter of fact voice.

"What would you have me do, let it eat her?" Yugi asked sarcastically as the bug advanced on them.

"No, just don't turn its attention on us!" Naid half yelled as the bug lunged. They jumped different ways and the bug hissed, confused. Naid grabbed the little girl's wrist and pulled her up. The girl fell back down almost immediately. Then Naid saw why, she wasn't conscious. She picked up the child and yelled at Yugi, "Run!"

"Can you handle carrying her?" Yugi asked as they ran back out into the street, pursued by the man-eater bug.

"Yeah. Did Yami and Sola go together?" Naid asked as she almost fell.

"Yes. Why?"

"Can you contact him?"

"I don't think so. Not with us separate like this. Can you contact Sola?"

"I'll try." Naid answered and concentrated on Sola.

(Hey, Sola, can you hear me?) She asked.

(Yes. What's wrong?)

(We've got a man-eater bug on our tail. We found this little kid that was about to be eaten by it and we have her.)

(We'll be there as soon as possible.) Sola cut the connection and Naid could feel her approaching. Suddenly Naid tripped and fell, hard. The girl flew out of her arms and landed a few feet in front of her. Naid pushed herself up and started to rise when she felt a claw on her leg. She flipped over, effectively knocking the bug's grip off, but the claws tore into her skin and she had a gash on her leg.

"Yugi, get the girl!" she ordered as she stood. Yugi nodded and picked up the small child. Naid stood and started running again, but not nearly as fast. Yugi stayed where he was, his mind locked in indecision.

"Run!" Naid yelled at him. He nodded, turned, and ran. Naid followed, but it was hard considering her wound and the yami sickness that she'd caught and couldn't seem to shake.

Suddenly the claw tightened on her leg again and she fell again, skinning her elbow. She kicked out with her free foot and connected with the bug's face. It let go and she jumped up and began to run again. Yugi was far ahead of her and had found Yami and Sola. Naid concentrated as hard as she could on reaching them but when she was halfway there another man-eater bug leaped out in front of her.

She skidded to a halt and turned right, opposite the way the bug had come. She almost ran right into a third bug. She did a one-eighty and ran into a fourth bug. She was surrounded.

The bugs started closing in on her when some sort of Duel Monster attack blasted one. All the bugs but one turned to where the blast had come and the last jumped at Naid. It almost landed on her when the same attack hit it and sent it flying. The third bug backed away from where the attacks were coming when a Dark Magic attack hit it and incinerated it. The last bug met the same fate.

Meanwhile Naid's vision got cloudy and she dropped to her knees. The last thing she saw was the astonished looks on her friends' faces as a Duel Monster came and picked her up and carried her off.

Naid awoke in a room that looked as if it were in an Egyptian pyramid. She sat up and looked around. Lining the walls were hieroglyphics depicting ancient duels. At strategic points on the walls were torches, placed so that no part of the room was dark. Near one corner was an open door, the Dark Magician Girl leaning against the doorframe.

"Where am I?" Naid asked. The Dark Magician Girl just stared at her. Naid remembered the signs and reverted to Ancient Egyptian. "Can you talk?" Naid asked. The female Duel Monster shook her head no. "Can any of you talk?" The Dark Magician Girl looked confused. "Any of you Duel Monsters?" the Duel Monster shook her head again. "Can you point to the depictions of the ones who saved me?" Naid asked. The Dark Magician Girl walked over to where four similar Duel Monsters were depicted. She pointed to herself, to a Dark Magician on the wall, a Magician of Light – a female Monster that had the same stats as the Dark Magician – and a Magician of Light Boy – a Monster with the same stats as the Dark Magician Girl.

The Dark Magician Girl started to walk out and Naid leaped up and asked, "Wait, where are you going?" The Dark Magician Girl pointed at Naid and then depicted eating and drinking. "You're going to get me food and something to drink?" Naid asked. The Dark Magician Girl nodded. "Thanks. But I'm not really hungry." The Dark Magician Girl shrugged and pantomimed drinking again. "I am thirsty though." Naid admitted. The Dark Magician Girl nodded and left, closing the door behind her.

When the Dark Magician Girl came back the Dark Magician and Magician of Light were with her. The Dark Magician Girl handed Naid a cup of water and left. The Dark Magician pointed at the wall where there was a depiction of Yami and looked at Naid questioningly. "I know him, if that's what you want to know." The Magician of Light cocked her head at Naid, and then exchanged a glance with the Dark Magician. Obviously she had misunderstood the question. "I'm a friend of his. I can't contact him if that's what you want to know." She tried. The Dark Magician pointed at the Millennium Puzzle. "What? He still has it if that's what you want to know." Naid started to get frustrated, and so did the Duel Monsters. The Magician of Light pointed at Naid and then the Millennium Puzzle. "I have an Item." Naid hoped she had answered their question. The Magician of Light pointed to her own eyes, then to the Puzzle, and then to Naid. "What, do you want to see my Item?" Naid asked. Both Duel Monsters nodded. Naid rolled up the sleeve of her shirt to show her Millennium Armlet. On the Armlet were depictions of each of the other seven Items and the Millennium Symbol.

Yami, Yugi, and Sola were taking turns explaining to the others what had happened. "… And then the Dark Magician, the Dark Magician Girl, and two other Duel Monsters I don't know the names of took her … someplace." Yami finished.

"Why didn't you follow them?" Seto demanded.

"They were too fast." Yugi explained.

"Calm down, Kaiba. If they had wanted to harm her, they could have let the man-eater bugs kill her." Sola pointed out.

"So, who do you think the little girl is?" Mai asked, gesturing to the still unconscious child.

"We don't know. She's the only other human we've seen." Yugi shrugged.

"Did any of you see any humans or Duel Monsters?" Yami asked.

"Tristan and I saw pack of Silver Fang." Joey said with a shrug.

"We thought we saw a Blue Eyes from a distance." Ryou chimed in, gesturing to Duke and himself.

"We saw a Mystic Horseman." Tea added pointing to herself and Mai.

"Mokuba and myself saw a Sonic Bird." Seto added, as usual, without emotion.

"So we can come to the conclusion that this world is ruled by Duel Monsters. But why? And where are all the humans?" Sola pondered aloud.

Suddenly the girl awoke and stared at the group. She nervously asked something in Ancient Egyptian and Yami and Sola exchanged glances. Yami knelt next to the girl and asked in Ancient Egyptian, "Can you repeat that more slowly?"

"Who are you?" the girl asked, "Where am I?"

"We come from another dimension. You're at the place we decided to stay for shelter." Yami answered, and then asked, "What's your name? Why haven't we seen any other humans?"

"I am called Petra. All of the humans are at the Magicians' pyramid because it's a holiday."

"What holiday?"

"The five thousand year anniversary of when the Pharaoh brought the Duel Monsters from the shadow realm."

"What part do the Duel Monsters play in your society?"

"They rule us."

"Does any one or group rule them?"

"The Magicians."

"Which Magicians?"

"The Dark Magician, the Dark Magician Girl, the Magician of Light, and the Magician of Light Boy. They rule over all. Although, we can not understand them and the translator died recently."

"Translator?"

"Yes. They speak a different language from us and only a person with a Millennium Item can understand them."

"Oh. Do you need to be at the ceremony?"

"Yes. Would you like me to take you there?" at Petra's question Yami looked at the others questioningly. Sola finished translating the conversation and everyone nodded. Yami turned to Petra and said, "Yes, we would like you to take us there."

The Dark Magician Girl had returned with the Magician of Light Boy and all four of the Duel Monsters were walking towards Naid, who was backing up nervously. Finally her back hit the stone wall and the Duel Monsters formed a semi circle around her. They reached out and gently touched the Millennium Armlet. Naid felt something like a shock travel up her arm and into her head.

"Can you understand us?" she heard someone or thing say.

"What?" she asked

"Do not worry. I, the Dark Magician, am speaking to you in the language of the Duel Monsters. We would like you to translate into Ancient Egyptian for the people of this land."

"I want to go back to my friends." She told him.

"Don't worry. We'll let you as soon as we can find another who is suitable to be a translator." The Magician of Light soothed. Naid stubbornly shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but we're not asking you. We're ordering you. We can tell that you are not of this dimension, but here, we rule." The Magician of Light Boy informed her. She gulped and asked, "What do I have to do?"

The four Duel Monsters nodded and started explaining to her what she would do. They gave her some Egyptian clothes that she was to wear, to fit in with the locals. They explained that it was a holiday and that she would be dong a lot of work. Then they had her try to tame her unruly hair, which didn't work, and change into the clothes they gave her so she could help them start the festivities.

Yami and the others were pushing their way through the crowd in front of a large pyramid, Petra in the lead. They managed to get in the front row of the humans before the celebration actually began. Several humans stood near the entrance and blew on large trumpet like horns to announce the coming of the Magicians.

Yami overheard one exited child whisper to another in Ancient Egyptian, "I heard they have a new translator! I heard she's really pretty and they just got her today!"

The second boy whispered back, "Yeah, I heard that too. I also heard that she survived an attack from a hundred man-eater bugs!"

"I heard it was a thousand!" the first boy retorted. Sola and Yami exchanged nervous glances.

Yami turned and hissed to the group, "We have reasons to suspect that we may see Naid here. If you do see her, don't call out to her or anything." They all nodded.

Naid was getting nervous. She was wearing the Egyptian clothes the Magicians had given her and the Millennium Armlet was clearly visible. The Magicians had her wearing a long cloak thrown back behind her shoulders and a sleeveless shirt with pants. She had seen one or two other humans and none had to wear anything like what she wore, so she asked the Dark Magician Girl, "Why am I wearing this goofy outfit?"

"That is the uniform of the translator." Was all the Dark Magician Girl would say.

Finally, after what seemed like and eternity, Naid was instructed to stand near the huge stone door leading outside. When it was opened she followed the Magicians out.

Yami and the others watched intently as the doors were opened. Four Duel Monsters came out, followed closely by Naid. She was wearing a cloak tossed back behind her shoulders and a sleeveless shirt and a pair of pants. Something glinted in the light on her arm, but Yami was too far away to see it. Suddenly, Yami grew worried. He noticed that Naid was even paler than she'd been just that morning and she was a lot thinner, too. Her cheeks were hollow seeming and she seemed somehow not to notice. When the others saw and recognized Naid, their faces registered different degrees of horror. It seemed that the illness that she had caught from Yami was very fast acting.

Naid quickly scanned the crowd, spotting her friends in the front row, all of them staring at her. She was a little startled at this and then she remembered the sickness she'd caught from Yami. It had been fast acting and Naid wasn't sure how much it had altered her appearance. The Dark Magician raised his hands to begin when a blast hit the pyramid behind them. Everyone flinched and a loud cackling could be heard from the back of the crowd. A very familiar cackling.

"Marik, show yourself!" Yami yelled from the front row, looking towards the back.

"Fine, Pharaoh! As you wish!" Marik spat in disgust and headed towards the front.

"If you must know, we're here for the girl's Item." Bakura's voice came from one side of the crowd near the front.

"You're never getting it! Not as long as I'm alive!" Naid yelled at him.

"Funny, you don't sound like you've caught a wasting sickness." Marik mocked. Naid spotted Bakura.

"Neither does your fool minion, but he has it as surely as I do." Naid snapped at Marik.

"What?" Marik asked in surprise and glanced at Bakura, who was much paler than the last time the group had seen them.

Suddenly Naid turned to the Magicians and reverted her speech to Ancient Egyptian, "There are two who can be your translators. I quit!" she hissed at them quietly.

"That boy in the front row with three hair colors, the one who yelled, what is his name?" the dark Magician asked.

"He is called Yami." Naid answered. The Magicians exchanged uneasy glances.

"We saw him looking at you worriedly, do you know him?" the Magician of Light asked.

"Yes. Why?" Naid asked. She glanced down at her friends, Marik, and Bakura, all of whom were watching her and the Magicians.

"Is he one of your friends?" The Dark Magician Girl asked.

"Yes. And I ask again, why?"

"One more question, is he the same Yami as was Pharaoh five thousand years ago?" the Magician of Light Boy asked.

"In our dimension, yes." Naid answered and the Magicians gasped.

"In this dimension he is the one who brought us here. Some Duel Monsters worship him. If he is truly your friend, you may do as you wish. Go or stay, we care not." The Dark Magician explained.

"Thank you." Naid bowed slightly to the four of them and started running down the stairs towards her friends. Marik and Bakura started for them, too. The two of them were closer and got to Naid's friends first.

Marik raised his Rod and in one sweep took over the minds of most of the people in the crowd. They started toward the group and grabbed them. Naid, who was still rather high on the steps took a running leap off of them and slammed into Marik, knocking the Rod out of his hands. The mind slaves faltered and Marik tried to get to the Rod. Naid kicked him at the base of his neck, causing him to black out and freeing the mind slaves. Bakura lunged at Naid from the side and grabbed the Armlet. Suddenly a foot connected with Bakura's head, knocking him unconscious as well. Naid turned to see Yami with his foot still upraised. He quickly put his foot down and asked, "Naid, you look … well I mean do you feel alright?"

"I feel fine. A little tired, but otherwise fine." Naid told him.

They heard a loud, deliberate cough and in it was the word "Liar." Naid turned to see Seto attempting to look innocent.

"I'm warning you, all of you. I don't want anyone going out of their way for me because I'm a little sick." Naid snapped.

"Kid, telling them that is like telling a dog not to scratch. They're not going to listen." Mai told her gesturing to Seto, Yami and Yugi.

Naid snorted then asked, "I understand Sola, Yami, and Yugi being protective, but Kaiba?"

Mai shrugged and told her, "It's impossible to understand men. I mean look at Joey. He's always trying to show off to me. I don't even like him and I was under the impression he hated me." Behind them all four Seto, Yami, Yugi, and Joey blushed for various reasons.

They walked back to the park shelter and found Petra waiting for them there.

"Um, the Magicians handed me this for you." she told them, shoved a piece of folded papyrus at Naid and ran off. Naid opened it and read it. "Hey, cool! Listen to this; it says that we are allowed to go anywhere we want to sleep, when we find people we can borrow as much food from them as we like, it basically gives us free rein to do anything!"

"Why?" Duke asked.

"Well, in this dimension Yami here is just short of a god. The Magicians told me that some Duel Monsters worship him and all sorts of stuff. When they found out that I am his friend, they told me I could leave and join you or stay or what ever. Before they were going to force me to stay to translate. It must be because of him." Naid answered.

They wandered around a little until they found a relatively clean, empty building to stay in. It had once been an inn and it had enough beds for all of them to have one.

The next morning when everyone woke up they met down in the common room, everyone except Naid that is. After they waited an hour, Sola went to check on her and found her still in the bed burning with fever and apparently having nightmares. She gently shook Naid awake and asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Like I said yesterday, just a little tired." She pushed away the covers and stood, or at least tried to. She collapsed back onto the bed as soon as she'd pushed away from it.

"You are not fine. Have you eaten anything since we've been in this dimension?" Sola asked. Naid shook her head. Sola sighed and ordered, "Stay in bed, I'm going to go get you something to eat." She walked out of the room, ignoring Naid's grumbles.

"Hey guys, is there any food down there?" Sola asked from the top of the stairs.

"None that we can find." Yami answered. "Why?"

"It's Naid. She said that she hasn't eaten anything yet in this dimension. And she's a lot worse. She can't even get out of bed. Or at least not without falling on her face."

"None of the rest of us have eaten anything yet." Duke pointed out.

"None of the rest of us are sick." Mai snapped at him. He glared at her, but said nothing.

"I wonder why she is as sick as she is." Yugi wondered aloud. "I mean Yami got better almost right away."

"And that filthy tomb robber isn't half as sick as she is." Sola growled.

"Shut up! For the last time, I'm fine!" they heard Naid yell from the room she was in.

"She certainly sounds fine." Joey muttered. Sola, Yami, Yugi, and – surprisingly – Seto all glared at him.

"I say we go look for food. Sola, Yugi, Yami, and … um … who's the one person I wouldn't want handling my food?" Tea began, but got stumped when trying to think of a fourth person to stay with Naid.

"Someone I don't want touching my food would be Kaiba." Joey muttered.

"Okay, Sola, Yami, Yugi, and Kaiba will all stay here and the rest of us will go look for food." Tea instructed.

"Can I stay here with Seto?" Mokuba asked.

"Alright. Come on the rest of you and bring that letter." Tea started towards the door and the others followed. Seto stared at the door after they left, both insulted that they thought he'd poison them and relived that he got to stay. Why he had wanted to stay, he didn't know.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, they heard a crash from Naid's room. They all ran up the stairs and looked in her room to see her pulling herself up from the floor.

"What happened?" Seto asked.

"I am not staying up here all day! I got up and tripped, that's all." She pulled herself upright and strode purposefully towards them, and then fell again, right into Yami's arms. He blushed and for some reason Seto felt jealous. Yami helped Naid upright again and helped her out the room and down the stairs. He helped her sit in a chair in the common room and she looked around.

"They left you five behind to watch over me?" she asked. The five of them nodded. "Do you realize that the only three who can speak or read Ancient Egyptian anything are in this room right now?" she asked.

"I knew we forgot about something." Seto muttered. Yami Yugi and Sola stared at him.

"He's allowed to make jokes too." Naid told them. She glanced around again. "This could be either good, or bad."

"What?" Yugi asked.

"The only Millennium Item holder not here is Ryou. Now that could mean that through the powers of the Millennium Ring Marik and Bakura will go for us, the ones they don't have, or the other half of the Ring. Either is very likely." Naid explained. She though a second, then added, "But they will most likely come here to get the Puzzle." As if on cue an explosion rocked the building, knocking everyone but Seto and Yami to their knees and sending Naid flying out of the chair.

"Everyone alright?" Sola asked as she stood.

"I'm fine." Yami answered as he helped Yugi up.

"I'm okay." Yugi brushed himself off.

Seto pulled his brother to his feet and answered, "We are both alright."

"Naid?" Sola asked. Naid didn't answer. Sola, Yami and Seto ran over to her and Sola checked her vitals. She was all right except that she was unconscious. Both Yami and Seto reached down to pick her up and when they saw this, they glared at each other. But seemingly at their touch, Naid woke up.

"What happened?" she asked. They shrugged. She glared at them a brief second then ordered, "If it's Marik and Bakura, then we should split up. We should make sure that each Item is in each group, so as to confuse them. Also, Kaiba bros you should split us so the basic description's the same – two guys and a girl."

"I'll go with Naid." Seto and Yami said in unison. They glared at each other again and Naid snapped, "Cut that out! If you don't, I'll go with Yugi and Mokuba!" Seto and Yami both shut up. Naid turned to Mokuba and Yugi. "No offense, I just wanted to get them quiet." Suddenly another explosion racked the building and they heard the familiar cackling laughter.

"Let's go." Naid ordered and shakily stood. She tried to run, but in her weakened condition, she just fell. Sola, Yugi, and Mokuba were already out one door.

Seto and Yami watched each other as Naid stood and fell again. Finally Yami told Seto, "She can't walk on her own. She's as tall as me and would just be a hindrance when we're running. You're tall enough that she wouldn't. When we run, you carry her. When we're walking, I will." Seto nodded and picked up Naid and held her in front of him as he ran.

"Put me down you big oaf! I will not be carried like I'm a child! If you don't put me down I'll … I'll send you back here alone when we get home! Put me down!" Naid snapped at Seto.

"You're lucky he doesn't just throw you over his shoulder." Yami told her with a grin.

"I'll send you both to the shadow realm for this, destiny or not!" Naid threatened.

"Sure you will." Yami rolled his eyes and Naid reached over and smacked him hard over the head. Then she crossly leaned against Seto. Yami raised an eyebrow and Seto looked rather content.

After they were sure they'd lost Marik and Bakura, the two running stopped and Naid insisted that Seto put her down. He did and she had to lock her knees in place to keep from falling. They looked around and found that they were near the park they'd originally been in. They walked over to a tree near a pond and Naid sat down under the tree and fell asleep.

"You go look for something for her to eat when she wakes up and I'll stay here in case she wakes up." Yami ordered and sat down near Naid.

"Why don't you go look for food?" Seto asked.

"I'm the pharaoh and I'm perfectly able to send you to the shadow realm if I wanted to." Yami snapped.

"Why haven't you then?"

"Because Yugi believes in giving people second chances, no matter how ungrateful they are. And I wouldn't want to leave Mokuba brother-less. But if you get on my nerves too much, I may just ignore my reasons." Yami raised an eyebrow and Seto left, grumbling, to find food.

When Seto finally returned he had plenty of food and it was getting dark. He and Yami ate some of the food and waited to eat the rest of it when Naid woke up.

The next morning, Naid still hadn't awoken. Yami shook her shoulder gently and more roughly when she didn't awaken. Worriedly he started to reach out through the Puzzle, but remembered that he could do nothing like what he would need to do to help. But when he had begun to reach out to her through the Puzzle, he felt a link open and waiting for someone. He probed deeper and in his mind's eye he saw Naid standing before him in the corridors of his mind.

(Yami, what's happening to me?) she asked, the link wavering.

(I don't know, I think that your body needs so much rest that it wont let you wake up. You might be in a coma.) Yami shook his head as if to purge the thought from his mind. In his mind's eye he noticed something odd about Naid. (Are you afraid?) He asked. Naid narrowed her eyes at him and a hint of a growl escaped her throat. But then she bit her lip in regret.

(Actually, I may be.) She answered and the link snapped.

Yami jerked up and fell back to land on his rear. Seto snickered a little and asked, "What happened? What did you do? Is she okay?"

"She's fine, sort of. Her mind is in perfect health, but her body is a different matter. I think she may be in a coma." Yami stood and brushed himself off. "We need to find the others."

"We won't run, I got too tired yesterday after that. We'll walk and you should carry her. If you get tired, I will." Seto said. Yami nodded and picked up Naid. He held her under her knees and around her shoulders so her head rested lightly against his chest. Now it was Seto's turn to raise an eyebrow.

They walked out of the park towards the building they'd been staying in the day before in hopes that the others would be there. They met Yugi about half way there.

"What happened? Are you two all right? Is she alright?" Yugi half asked half demanded.

"We would prefer to tell everyone at the same time so we can puzzle things out." Yami told him. Yugi nodded and fell in step with Seto and Yami, sort of. He tried to keep up with their long strides, but poor short Yugi * I know how it feels, my friend's sister is two years younger than me and easily two or three inches taller than me, my friend's taller than his sister and my sister is a year younger than me and taller than me * kept falling behind and having to run to catch up with them, and then it would begin again. After watching poor short Yugi do this a while Yami whispered to Seto, "Kaiba, slow down, Yugi can barely keep up."

Seto made a face, but complied. A while later the four of them arrived at where the building once stood. Once being the key word. When Sola and the others saw Yami carrying an unconscious Naid, they all ran over and asked if she was all right.

"Be quiet and let us explain." Seto snapped and after Yami set Naid down somewhere comfortable he and Seto took turns explaining what had happened. Everyone was silent for a few minutes when Sola asked, "Did she really threaten to send both of you to the shadow realm?"

"Yes." Seto told her indignantly.

Sola shook her head and muttered, "She must have been VERY mad at you then. She only threatened me like that once and that was after she found out that I could send people there and had been doing it." Sola paused to laugh and then imitated Naid as a chibi, "'Sola if you send any more people there, I'll send you there!' that's exactly what she had said. She was pretty young at the time though." Everyone stared at her a second before Yami started to chuckle and then most of the others burst out laughing.

After everyone stopped laughing, Ryou asked, "So what are we going to do now?"

"Find another place to stay and find some food." Yami decided.

"IF I DO NOT KILL ALL OF YOU FIRST!" an incredibly insane sounding voice yelled.

"What?" Duke asked, clueless.

"Marik." Everyone else explained.

"Oh. Why can't we just kill him or snap his Millennium Rod in half or something?" Duke asked. Suddenly someone appeared and smacked him over the head.

"Hi I'm Saiyan Jedi, the author. I came to shut this fool up and take any of you home if you want to go. Well except those with an actual part in my plot." Saiyan Jedi took off her shoe and sock and stuffed the foul smelling sock in Duke's mouth. "I always hated him." She explained. She grabbed Duke, Mai, Tristan, Tea, Mokuba, and Joey and disappeared.

"That was odd." Seto remarked.

"Yeah, especially because this isn't supposed to be humorous." * my next one will be though!J * Ryou agreed. Marik jumped in among them and waved the Rod around in circles.

"I really think he's cracked." Sola observed. But there was a purpose to Marik's insanity. Obelisk the Tormentor flew above their heads, shooting its attack at them.

"This can't be good." Yami observed. One attack hit between him and Naid, causing a large crater to split the ground – Naid on one side, and the others on the other side. As the Monster shot more attacks at them – although mainly missing and hitting the center of the crater – the crater widened, threatening to open under Naid. Another attack caused the crater to widen even further and the rubble still left under Naid crumbled and fell, taking her with it.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NAID! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" both Yami and Seto yelled at the same time. In spite of their situations, when they realized it they glared fiercely at each other as another attack erupted around them.

"Stop fighting and concentrate you two!" Sola yelled at them, unshed tears for her yami in her eyes, "I can't sense Naid anymore! I should know if she's either alive or dead, but all I can sense is a void."

"I'm sorry Sola." Yugi whispered, all of them some how ignoring the giant Duel Monster shooting attacks at them.

Naid fell, and fell, and fell, until finally she hit the bottom. It should have killed her but somehow she survived. And it revived her out of the coma-like state she'd been in. she sat up and looked around. She was so far down that no light could reach her.

"Think." She muttered to herself, "Is there anyway out of here?" she felt around on the walls of the crater and something bit her. She recoiled and held her now bleeding hand to her chest. "Crap, that stung!" she bit her lip and thought hard. She knew that she needed light and she knew that her friends needed her. She couldn't sense Sola or any of the others, but something told her that she had to try. She did and she tried so hard that the Millennium Symbol glowed brightly on her forehead, illuminating the darkness around her. She looked and saw the creature who'd bitten her, a variety of cave snake.

She scared it off and started climbing, a difficult task when you figure that it was a newly created cavern that would have sharp rocks all over the place and that she had to keep most of her mind on trying to find her friends, or else the light would be too weak.

In the back of his mind, Yami sensed a presence that he though was familiar. At first he thought that it was that annoying author * . *, but then he realized that he hadn't really been able to sense her. He concentrated harder on the presence while dodging attacks; the stupid thing was getting better aim. Slowly he could sense the presence better, as if it were coming steadily near him. Finally he could sense it well enough to label it and he almost fell over in shock. He still couldn't contact her, but he knew who it was and his heart rejoiced.

Naid could sense Yami reaching out to the no-doubt faint presence that was her and she kept climbing, Yami and the others' presences getting stronger. Finally she felt Yami's presence reach out and grab hers * for lack of a better way of putting it although "glomp" may have a better word *.

(Naid, is that really you?) He asked.

(Yes. It's a long story and getting longer. Are you guys all right?) She asked, the light from the Millennium Symbol growing fainter.

(We're being attacked by Obelisk the Tormentor. That's how you got down there as a matter of fact. But other than that fine. Oh yeah, some weirdo came saying she was the author and took several people home. And not us because we're crucial to her stupid plot or something.) Naid thought she could picture Yami sigh.

(But I mean, no one's been hurt or killed yet?) she asked as the Millennium Symbol's light grew to weak to see by. Aloud she cursed in English, Ancient Egyptian, and Latin * Latin class sucks, but it always impresses people when you tell them that you know it J *.

(No one's hurt yet.) Yami assured her. Now, though she wasn't trying as hard as before to sense her friends, she sensed one of them get hit. She broke off the connection and concentrated on using what little light escaped into the chasm she was in to climb. She ended up cutting her hands to practical shreds before she finally climbed out of the chasm to find herself in an even larger crater, as it started to rain. She glanced up and muttered, "What exactly did I do to deserve this?" * answer in the author's note at the end ;) *.

Cursing in all the languages she knew, she climbed the crater to the steep and sharp rocked rim. "I really hate sharp rocks." Naid took off the cloak she'd been given by the Magicians and ripped it in half. She then tied it around her bleeding hands in hopes that it would provide some help. She almost started to climb when she heard a scream and a body flew over her head and landed a few feet behind her. Another scream split the air and yet another one of her friends flew past her, landing on the first. She ran back to them and was surprised to find none other than Yami on top of Seto. Yami had a bad cut on his forehead and Seto had a gash across his middle.

Naid sighed and unwound the makeshift bandages from her hands and tied one each around her two friends. When she finished she looked at her hands and muttered, "This might result in something … odd." Because of the rain she had had to tie Yami's bandage twice, once first and once after she was done with Seto – effectively mixing all three's blood together.

She ran to the rim of the crater and climbed the steep, sharp edge. When she got to the top she stood and saw a scene of complete and utter chaos.

Marik was standing atop a pile of rocks and laughing insanely. Bakura was with him and they both seemed oblivious to everything. Obelisk the Tormentor, she thought, was doing as his name implied and tormenting Ryou, Yugi, and Sola. One of his blasts came dangerously close to Yugi, the shockwaves knocking him unconscious.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Naid bellowed. The Millennium Symbol glowed VERY brightly on her forehead. She held out a hand towards Marik and Bakura and yelled "OBLITERATE!" he whole negative image thing ensued and when the dust cleared Marik and Bakura were as far into the shadow realm as it was in Naid's power to send them. Amazingly, their Items remained.

Seto and Yami were dazedly waking up. They looked at each other and at their makeshift bandages and both muttered, "Naid." At the same time. This time, they didn't care about glaring at each other and they ran towards where Yami sensed Naid, just out of their line of sight at the rim of the crater.

They found a safer route than Naid had used and climbed it, pulling themselves up over the rim just in time to see Naid send Marik and Bakura to the shadow realm. Obelisk looked confusedly from where its masters had stood to Naid and back before deciding to destroy her. It aimed a blast at Naid and fired, the blast hitting her just as Yami and Seto ran over to try and stop it.

Angrily both Yami and Sola sent Obelisk to the shadow realm as Seto checked for an unconscious Naid's vital signs. "I don't believe it, she survived." Seto stared at Naid with awe in his voice.

"What do you expect, she's the main character?" a voice asked. They spun around to see Saiyan Jedi standing there.

"What are you doing here?" Yami demanded.

"I can't let my main character die, can I? Besides, I need to have her get you guys back to your own dimension: Joey's having a field day with Seto's credit cards. And I didn't make an appearance in any other fics yet, so I decided I'd make an appearance in this one and the next will star ME!" she sat down and a lap top appeared in front of her.

"How did you do that?" Seto asked.

"I'm the author, I can do anything I want." She eyed Seto, "Include reveal your boxers or what 'Kaiba' means."

"What else can you do?" Yugi asked, sitting next to her.

"This." She glanced at the crater and it was instantly filled.

"Could you heal Naid?" Yami asked.

"If I wanted to. But part of my plot requires that she heal on her own. Besides, I'm getting tired of proving myself." She informed them and Seto raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't you need any special hand movement or anything?" he asked. Saiyan Jedi sighed.

"I could if I felt like it. And the more tired I am and the greater the work the more gestures I need. It goes so far that I'll just skip it. But I don't need to or feel like it and snapping fingers is a little done." She retorted, and added, "If you question me one more time, I'll reveal your boxers. The supposedly cute ones."

"I'm not even wearing those!" Seto protested.

"So?" * in case you can't tell, I got bored of being serious all the time, or at least relatively serious. *

That night Saiyan Jedi nodded and several blankets appeared. "Before you ask, after filling that crater and the chasm I got tired and I don't feel like having to resort to more than a nod." She snapped at Seto. She had him lift Naid so she could put a blanket under her and then covered her with one. Saiyan Jedi then nodded again and several pillows appeared, one for all of them. Yami grabbed two and placed one gently under Naid's head. He then bedded down to one side of Naid and Seto was on the other.

Sola and Saiyan Jedi went over to one side and put their blankets and pillows there.

"I never will understand them." Sola muttered to the young teen.

"I do. Kinda. I write this, remember?" Saiyan Jedi informed her as she climbed the mound of rubble that the tomb robber and the … whatever it is that Marik actually is were standing on earlier. She grabbed the Rod, Eye, and Ring and tossed the Ring to Ryou.

"Catch!" she called and instructed, "Put it on." He did and the two halves merged.

Sola started to ask the teen author some thing but she waved her hand to silence the ancient spirit. "I'll explain everything when Naid wakes up."

The next morning, Yami awakened to a strange weight on one side of his chest. He opened his eyes to see Naid's head resting on his chest and she was sleeping peacefully. He gently pushed her off and stood, glancing at the never changing sky. He jogged a little ways away to take care of business and when he came back, he saw Naid roll over and her head rest on Seto's chest. Yami found a long stick and prodded Seto awake.

Seto woke with half a start and pushed Naid off of him as gently as Yami had. He sat up in time to see Yami throw a long stick into the rubble near him. Yami grinned evilly at Seto, who walked passed Yami and muttered, "If you didn't have that Puzzle, I would have killed you by now."

When Seto returned from doing his … business there was a table in the middle of the rubble with a banquet of breakfast on it and chairs set up neatly around it. Yami, Yugi, Sola, and Ryou were waiting as Saiyan Jedi healed Naid.

"You were waiting for this morning before you would heal her, not some stupid plot twist!" Seto accused in a murmur as the teen writer stood and stretched.

"Baka sea horse." She muttered back and added, "I think your fly might be down." Seto glanced down to see his pants fall seemingly of their own accord and his Blue Eyes Toon Dragon boxers showing.

"You … you pain in the …" whatever Seto would have called Saiyan Jedi was silenced by the duct tape that appeared on his mouth. He hurriedly pulled up his pants and heard a snickering behind him. He and the others turned to see Naid standing almost doubled over with laughter.

He and Yami rushed towards her and hugged her tightly. When they realized that they were in such close quarters with each other, they started glaring again. Saiyan Jedi broke it up by stepping between them and pushing them towards the food, "Go. Eat drink and be merry for today … how does that go again? Something about 'you may die', or 'today may be your last'? Oh well."

After everyone ate and Naid got acquainted with Saiyan Jedi the teen yami was instructed to use her Armlet to get them home.

"How do I do that?" she demanded.

"Remember how you got here? Go to the shadow realm and then back to your own dimension. It's that simple." The writer instructed.

"Easy for you to say." Naid muttered, but did as instructed. They flashed into the shadow realm and then back into Yugi's bedroom.

"I knew you could do it!" Saiyan Jedi congratulated. She looked at them. Sola and Naid were back in one body and so were Yugi and Yami. Seto was staring at Naid, who was the one in charge of her body at the moment, as if unsure what to say next.

"I should be going." Saiyan Jedi informed them. She handed Yami a package and left in the blink of an eye. He opened the package to find his missing Exodia cards.

"Are we sure that weirdo is really in control of our lives?" Naid asked.

* How'd you like it? Please review! I stayed up till one in the morning just to finish, so it'd better be good! Although I added myself, I think, because I'm on a sugar high, sorta. Oh well. In answer to Naid's question, "What exactly did I do to deserve this?", she didn't do anything! I just like punishing the main character for no reason. It toughens them up. She'll need it when she meets Lan, Erno, and Jan from other fics I've made to go up against the evils of… I'm not allowed to tell you, yet. Carpe Diem*


	2. alternate ending

Saiyan Jedi: In one out of three reviews I got for "A Female Yami" I got a complaint about the ending. So, here's the alternate ending, like I promised you, Lonewolf16. Oh, yeah, I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. I hope I'm not going to put anything in here that I have in another fic that's not supposed to show yet… that is, except my better writing skills. I can show those off. I've got the last line before I went all sugar-high on y'all.

"Oh. Why can't we just kill him or snap his Millennium Rod in half or something?" Duke asked.

Everyone stared at him. "It's not that simple, Duke." Yami told him.

"Why not?" Duke asked, sounding dumb.

"Because, you try catching him to kill him, plus Items are indestructible." Yami said, but then turned to Sola and whispered, "right?"

"I'm pretty sure you can't destroy them without using Millennium Magic." Sola whispered back. They were all kinda ignoring Marik, but he got their attention when he jumped down from the building he was standing on and the Millennium Eye glowed on his forehead.

"What's he doing, big brother?" Mokuba asked, getting frightened.

"I'm not too sure." Seto said and pulled Mokuba close. Marik, who saw the gesture, grinned with an evil glint in his eye and they all heard a rumbling coming towards them.

"LOOK!" Mai yelled and pointed to where Obelisk the Tormentor was coming towards them. It stopped in front of Marik and Bakura – who was coming out of the door of the building that Marik had jumped from – and started using it's attacks on the group. Everyone dived to one side, but Sola realized something the others didn't…

"They're trying to separate us from Naid!" she shouted, pointing. The attack had caused a crack in the land between them and Naid. Actually, the crack was spreading to UNDER her as well. The crack widened even further with the next attack from Obelisk and the ground under Naid crumbled, sending her falling into the dark abyss that was the crack.

"NO!" Yami and Seto yelled at the same time and glared at each other when they realized that fact.

"Stop it!" Tea snapped. The two stared at her and she gestured to Obelisk, "We've got bigger things to worry about than you two arguing."

"Besides, I can't sense Naid anymore." Sola whispered.

"Is she…" Yami asked, but he couldn't bring himself to finish that question.

"No. I would sense that. It's like she never existed or something." Sola sounded as if the words were coming hard.

"LOOK OUT!" Tristan yelled as Obelisk attacked again. About half the group dived to one side and the other to the other side. The crack caused by that attack was a good seven feet across and separated the group.

"We need to stay together." Joey said from one side.

"Here, Kaiba and I can help the others over here to your side. Right, Kaiba?" Yami asked and Kaiba nodded. The others on their side consisted of Yugi, Tea, Mokuba, and Duke. Yami and Kaiba helped the others jump the gap from their side of it and Tristan and Joey caught them and helped steady them. Yami was about to jump over when Obelisk attacked again, this time using his punching attack. Seto and Yami had to move to get out of the way, but Obelisk moved as well. They managed not to get directly hit, but the shockwave still got them. The shockwave sent rocks hurtling towards them. Yami got a rock lodged in his shoulder and a smaller rock hit Seto in the head. They were both knocked unconscious and fell, one on top of the other. A light drizzle started, though it quickly grew worse and worse.

Naid fell and fell and fell. Finally she hit the bottom, the shock of it bringing her out of the coma-like state she'd been in. she was surprised she wasn't dead. She felt like she should be, though. She ached all over and felt very cold, still wearing the outfit that she'd received from the Magicians. It was warm enough, on the surface. But the fabric was thin and the cave, as she assumed she was in because it was so dark she couldn't see a thing, was cold enough as it was. She stood and felt around, but a sharp pain in her hand stopped her train of thought. She had the intention of blasting the stupid little creature off the face of the earth, but remembered she was in a cave and couldn't see. But that was soon fixed, for in the instant she'd had the idea to destroy the creature, the Symbol had alighted on her forehead, glowing in all its brilliance. She kept vaguely concentrating on her Millennium Magic and the Symbol kept glowing.

She looked around and saw a cave snake near her now bleeding hand, hissing at her. Thankfully, it wasn't a poisonous variety. She moved away from it and looked around her. She seemed to be in a huge crevice, newly created. She closed her eyes and tried to sense her friends, but she couldn't. She did sense another huge presence. "Obelisk!" she shouted, frightening the snake, her eyes flying open. She looked around, found suitable hand and foot holds, and started climbing; hoping desperately that her friends would be okay.

What seemed to be quite a while later, she could finally sense the others. She was relieved when she realized that no one was dead… no one she could sense anyways. She climbed out of the crevice only a few minutes later and, upon discovering that the sharp rocks had practically sliced them to ribbons, bandaged her hands using a bit of her cloak. After she did that she looked around to see Obelisk wreaking havoc upon her friends. They were all on the other side of the crevice. She studied them for injures before she said anything because they were busy enough trying to dodge Obelisk's attacks, the wet ground and rain only making it worse, for her to bother them. That was when she noticed that Yami and Seto weren't with the others. She frantically looked around and saw them behind her, lying unconscious on top of each other.

She ran to them and bandaged their wounds, all three's blood getting in each other's wounds because she had to take the bandages off her cloak. She nodded to herself and flicked a wet bang out of her eyes when she heard a scream. She turned to see Yugi fall, unconscious.

"I've had enough of this!" Naid growled and ran closer to Obelisk, Marik, and Bakura. "OBLITERATE!" she shouted. Marik and Bakura disappeared. Obelisk was left and was most confused. He decided to kill Naid, seeing as she just banished the two who were telling it what to do. He attacked her and she was so exhausted that she couldn't dodge and it hit her almost full on, sending her flying over everyone's heads. Sola immediately banished Obelisk to the shadow realm and everyone ran over to see if Naid was all right. Thankfully, all the injuries she sustained were a few cuts and bruises and one large bump on the head from where she had hit the ground and had gotten knocked unconscious.

"I think she's coming to." She heard a voice say.

"Good. None of you can figure out how to get us back, maybe she can." A second one said.

"You're supposed to be some sort of genius, you figure it out." The first voice snapped. That was Yami and the second was Seto.

"I don't do magic. How am I supposed to know what would work and what wouldn't?" Seto demanded.

"You're the genius. You figure it out." Yami growled. Naid chose that time to open her eyes.

"Naid!" both Yami and Seto said at the same time, which set them glaring at each other again.

"Stop it!" Naid snapped.

"Hey! She's awake!" she heard Yugi yell and she looked around. They were still at that place, but Yami Seto and Naid were on one side of the crevice and the others were all on the other side. There was a large, thick plank of wood set up for them to walk over the crevice. They ran over and gathered around the trio, smiling.

"How long have I been out?" Naid asked, sitting up.

"Only since last night." Sola said. "Are you alright, little warrior?"

"Fine. A little sore and my hands are killing me, but otherwise perfectly fine." Naid shrugged.

"Why do your hands hurt?" Duke asked.

"The rocks in that crevice were sharp. I got a little cut up." Naid shrugged and Sola grabbed her hands. Naid winced as Sola looked over her hands and scowled at Naid.

"A little?! These are torn to shreds! Why aren't they bandaged?" Sola demanded.

"They were." Naid said, sounding like a kid being scolded by her mom, "but I had to use the bandages – which was actually bits of that cloak – to bandage Seto and Yami."

"Okay." Sola said.

"Okay, this is all nice and good, but we need to get back. I have a company to run, if you recall." Seto snapped at them, sounding more like his old self than he had since they got to that strange world.

"You're stuck up, rich boy." Joey snapped.

"I think I know how we can get back!" Naid said before the argument could escalate.

"How?" Ryou asked.

"We do the opposite of what we did to get here. We got here because Bakura took us to the shadow realm and I yanked us out, not knowing where we went. We get back by going to the shadow realm and trying to get to our own world from there." Naid said. She knew there was a good chance that they wouldn't be able to get back, but it was worth a shot.

"Okay. Who'll try it?" Yami asked. All of the Item holders were silent until Naid spoke up.

"My plan, so I'll try." She said with a shrug and quickly pulled them to the shadow realm and into the real world. Their own world.

"So… now what?"

Saiyan Jedi: I hate writing endings. I suck at it. -_- Anyways, there you go, the alternate ending. * Holds up sign that says "applaud" very few people do* -_- *twitches at lack of popularity and reviews. * …Okay. New strategy. READ AND REVIEW AND THEN YOU CAN GO OUT AND SEIZE THE BAKA DAY!

Kageka: carpe diem means size the day.

Saiyan Jedi: so, AFTER you review, carpe diem!

Dragon Child: you forgot something.

Saiyan Jedi: eh? *looks at checklist * Oh, yeah REVIEW RESPONSES! YAY! Okay, alphabetical order, look for your name, there will be no italics/bolding/underlining because I tried to do that once and it didn't work. go figure.

Kairi-sama – thanks. And, listening to people is generally a good idea. Though, I wouldn't know, one of my worst habits is not listening to people. ^-^

LoneWolf16 – eh, slow updates is nice, it makes people think your stuff is better than if you just update daily … until it's been over a month. But I understand. It took me twenty minutes to get my floppy drive to work to get the reviews onto the computer I type on. Like I think I said in a review, don't sweat not letting me put you in my fic. I don't mind you're actually the only one who said no. and no, you do NOT 'hearth the call of the Ravager'! I started that fic LONG before I heard of you. Though, if you really want some blood and stuff, it could strike again … Marik hasn't gotten it (as in Yami Marik. I kept it consistent in calling Malik 'Marik' for the alternate end even though in my more recent fics they're Malik and Marik). And I'm glad you like the way I handled the Yami/Yugi thing. I'm an older sister, I know what it's like to feel protective and how Yami feels about Yugi in the show and as far as I've seen in the manga is like how protective I am for imouto! (Little sister) yeah, about the end. I had major writers' block and Kool-Aid. Not a good combo. I won't REPLACE the ending, but I did write this. Another thing, I looked back on the fic after your review to see just how out of place the humor was, and I got confused myself. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the worse things I've written (other than that Yu-Gi-Oh it's a Wonderful Life thing. That was horrid) and you thought it was good. (Paraphrasing here) then again, I did write it a while back and so compared to how I write now it is worse (I think) but check out In Medias Res, see if you agree. And no, I wont flame you, I'll just try to explain it. I wasn't really very satisfied with the end, but I'm lazy and I usually don't go back and rewrite stuff in case I hate what I end up with. A bit off topic, but I was wondering; are you a Christian? I assumed so because of some of your writing, but I wanted to know for sure, because I am a Christian and it would be nice to know for sure that an author I respect and whose work I like is a Christian too. On another related side note, I think you'd like the K-Love website. K-Love is a Christian radio station, and I've heard some of the songs in your song fics on there. They have a website, klove.org or klove.com or klove.net or something like that, I'm not sure which it is. One of the things they have is a list of all the stations so that you can find out which station it is in your area and listen to it. Okay, that was LONG.

Yami Gurl – thanks. You ought to look at In Medias Res. It's better than this, I think. Is this soon? Sorry if it's not, but my computer hates me. It won't accept floppies most of the time and the OTHER computer is the one with net access. It took me a good twenty minutes to get the reviews so I could add responses.

Saiyan Jedi: Wow. I'm REALLY long-winded. Anyways, review please and carpe diem.


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